Job 12
1 Then Job answered:
Then Job said [to his three friends],
2 “Truly then you are the people with whom wisdom itself will die!
“You (talk as though/You think) [SAR] that you are the people [whom everyone should listen to], and that when you die, there will be no more wise people.
3 But I also have a mind; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?
But I have as much good sense as you do; I am (not less wise than/certainly as wise as [LIT]) you. Certainly everyone knows [RHQ] all that you have said.
4 I am a laughingstock to my friends, though I called on God, and He answered. The righteous and upright man is a laughingstock.
My friends all laugh at me now. Previously I habitually requested God to help me, and he answered/helped me. I am righteous, a very godly man [DOU], but everyone laughs at me.
5 The one at ease scorns misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.
Those [like you] who have no troubles make fun of me; they cause those [like me] who are already suffering to have more troubles.
6 The tents of robbers are safe, and those who provoke God are secure— those who carry their god in their hands.
Bandits live peacefully, and no one threatens those who cause God to become angry; their own strength is the god [that they worship].
7 But ask the animals, and they will instruct you; ask the birds of the air, and they will tell you.
“But ask the wild animals [what they know about God], and [if they could speak] they would teach you. [If you could] ask the birds, they would tell you.
8 Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; let the fish of the sea inform you.
[If you could] ask the creatures [that crawl] on the ground, or the fish in the sea, they would tell you [about God].
9 Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?
All of them certainly know [RHQ] that it is Yahweh who has made them with his hands.
10 The life of every living thing is in His hand, as well as the breath of all mankind.
He directs the lives of all living creatures; he gives breath to all [us] humans [to enable us to remain alive].
11 Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes its food?
And when we [SYN] hear what other people [like you] say, we [RHQ] think carefully about what they say [to determine what is good and what is bad], like we [SYN] taste food [to determine what is good and what is bad].
12 Wisdom is found with the elderly, and understanding comes with long life.
Old people are [often] very wise, and because of having lived many years, they understand much,
13 Wisdom and strength belong to God; counsel and understanding are His.
but God is wise and very powerful; he has good sense and understands [everything].
14 What He tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man He imprisons cannot be released.
If he tears [something] down, no one can rebuild it; if he puts someone in prison, no one can open [the prison doors to allow that person to escape].
15 If He holds back the waters, they dry up, and if He releases them, they overwhelm the land.
When he prevents rain from falling, everything dries up. When he causes a lot of rain to fall, [the result is that] there are floods.
16 True wisdom and power belong to Him. The deceived and the deceiver are His.
He is the one who is truly strong and wise; he rules over those who deceive others and those whom they deceive.
17 He leads counselors away barefoot and makes fools of judges.
He [sometimes] causes [the king’s] officials to no longer be wise, and he causes judges to become foolish.
18 He loosens the bonds placed by kings and fastens a belt around their waists.
He takes from kings the robes that they wear and puts loincloths around their waists, [causing them to become slaves].
19 He leads priests away barefoot and overthrows the established.
He takes from priests the sacred clothes that they wear, [with the result that they no longer can do their work], and takes power from those who rule others.
20 He deprives the trusted of speech and takes away the discernment of elders.
He [sometimes] causes those whom others trust to be unable to speak, and he causes old men to no longer have good sense.
21 He pours out contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty.
He causes those who have authority to be despised, and he causes those who are powerful to no longer have any power/strength.
22 He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings deep shadows into light.
He causes things that are hidden in the darkness to be revealed.
23 He makes nations great and destroys them; He enlarges nations, then disperses them.
He causes some nations to become very great, and [later] he destroys them; he causes the territory of some nations to become much larger, and [later] he causes them to be defeated and their people to be scattered.
24 He deprives the earth’s leaders of reason and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.
He causes [some] rulers to become foolish/stupid, and then he causes them to wander around, lost, in an barren desert.
25 They grope in the darkness without light; He makes them stagger like drunkards.
They grope around in the darkness, without any light, and he causes them to stagger like [SIM] people who are drunk.”
